Commission Acknowledges ‘Speculative Conduct’ in Translators

Even if its current translator process is lawful, the FCC wondered whether it is fair.

0

SHARES

Even if its current translator process is lawful, the FCC wondered whether it is fair.

In the text of its LPFM rules the agency wrote, “The rapid flipping of hundreds of permits acquired through the window process for substantial consideration does suggest that our current procedures may be insufficient to deter speculative conduct. [I]t appears that our assumption that our competitive bidding procedures would deter speculative filings has proven to be unfounded in the Auction No. 83 context.”

In addition to limiting further processing of applications submitted during Auction 83 to 10 per entity for short-form applications only the commission said it would process the approximately 100 pending but frozen singleton long-form applications without regard to the limit.

The commission intends to finalize some decisions in its effort to balance the needs of those who’d like to own a low-power FM, and existing broadcasters wondering about the fate of their pending FM translator application